Orlando Predators offensive lineman Terrence Campbell, spent much of his early life at the Boys and Girls Club and volunteers at the Boyas and Girls Club in Eatonville, working with the same type of kids he once was, trying to show them there is a way out

Orlando Predators offensive lineman Terrence Campbell, spent much of his early life at the Boys and Girls Club and volunteers at the Boyas and Girls Club in Eatonville, working with the same type of kids he once was, trying to show them there is a way out

He can take pride in that — and in how far he has come, with the help of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chattanooga, Tenn.

"Before I started going to the Boys & Girls Club, I was getting into small trouble, throwing rocks at cars and abandoned houses," he said. "I never went to jail as a child. I just did some dumb things."

Now Campbell talks to youngsters at local Boys & Girls Clubs, such as the one in Eatonville where he has gone individually and with other Predators.

"I feel like I am somebody they can relate to," Campbell said. "I tell them that you can change the situation you are in. I try to talk to them in positive words."

Said Austin Long, service director for the Boys & Girls Club in Eatonville: "They see someone from the same kind of community who made it out, and it gives them incentive to do better and work harder.''

Campbell's early life wasn't easy.

His mother, Kenya Sampler, was 14 when he was born. She needed help raising Terrence until she graduated from high school. His father, Kenneth Campbell, who played football at the University of Tennessee, wasn't in a position for Terrence to live with him. So he went to live with a grandmother in Chattanooga.

He spent afternoons at the Boys & Girls Clubs.

"He was able to go, interact, play ball, see different aspects of people and see how they were raised,'' Sampler said. "It was an outlet to keep him out of trouble. It wasn't like he was getting into any major trouble, but it kept him from hanging out on the streets.

"Now, if I tell him one of my employees or co-workers is having trouble with a child, he will go talk to them, share his experiences and keep them out of trouble."

Campbell got his start in athletics there, playing basketball, football, soccer and table games such as air hockey or pingpong.

"That helped turn on my competitiveness," said Campbell (6-3, 305), who moved with his mother to Atlanta while in third grade. "That is what really helped me with my life and my development. I played sports, and I didn't want to lose."

Said Predators line coach Steve Edwards: "Some guys can get behind their past, and some can't. You can see T.C., which is what we call him, has put separation from his past. He wants to help people."

While growing up, Campbell saw young men smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol on the street.

"I would go outside and hang around with the older guys in the neighborhood," Campbell said. "I used to think I was one of the big guys, but I wasn't. It was no good for me. I don't want my kids to have a life like I had."